First published on the New English Review Photo credit of CPR news Never (Can) Forget: Year 23 Time: Traveling If you want to talk about it, it’s because you want to repeat it. Is it because I’ve talked about it that it’s repeated? Another lap around the track at the center of hell. By ‘it,’ I mean Columbine, and by ‘it’s, I mean mass shootings. I didn’t know I was running. That’s partly what’s made it hell. And by this ‘it,’ I mean the last two decades of my life. I just

First published on the Voicemail Poems Photo credit: adobe stock photos There is a dog somewhere In my building That cries all day for love In our shared shelter Crying all day for love I searched the staircases And the old boxes people leave By the dumpster when it’s too full By the too-full dumpster And I brought myself To peer into the pool And then I saw the dog What a dog, what a dog Weaving back and forth On the skin of the water Crying for love like water When it blath

First published on Quillette The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens (including leaders and lawmakers) and institutions are accountable to the same laws. It is fragile today because society is reaching peak fragility. The emotional coddling of a generation, a growing hatred of America and its founding principles, and the advent and infiltration of technology are converging to destabilize the rule of law and its ability to govern public life. This is no

First published by Discretionary Love I was the only imperfect child. My five older siblings and I were all born in a kiddie pool my...

First published by Scuba Diving Magazine Dad and I in Cozumel, Mexico getting ready for a dive I learned to dive with my dad back in 1998. I was 12, and my dad had dreamed of getting certified since his college days. His best friend had opened a dive shop and become a divemaster shortly after their graduation, so he’d had the opportunity, but no time. The economy of the early-mid ’80s was rough on young architects; logging long office hours crowded out any ocean time. When

First published by Mad in America In the 23 years since the Columbine High School massacre, the school shooting in an affluent, formerly unknown suburb of Denver, Colorado (my hometown) that put school shootings on the map, gun laws have become looser and looser despite victims’ efforts for stricter laws. SCOTUS ruled yesterday to continue the expansion of gun rights exactly one month after the Uvalde shooting that claimed 19 lives, most of them elementary school students.

Published by Heartwood INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOW TO LIVE MY LIFE if I should die. Use resistance as formaldehyde. Refuse to accept the fact of change. Reserve the right to refuse, and refuse the right to be reserved. Stop eating when you’re upset. Burn off the rest in punishing workouts. When you hear about emotional eating or exercise addiction, don’t identify. React to every word or change like it’s a harpoon. Pump your cortisol day and night ruminating on safety. When you hav

First published by Literally Stories The man who pit this roof against rain, his best friend and owner of the final store in town, the woman who pits seed against element to feed me all my life, our humdrum hay baler, two others I didn’t know and I sit in a circle in Shopkeeper’s empty store. These are our Friday nights now after the litany of systems failures. “Supply chain-issues,” Papa mumbles when it comes up. “Just the economy cycling again, actually,” Shopkeeper grumb

First featured in the Doubleback Review Clay When we played all those blue games near the highway, Mom didn’t stop us at first, though cars flowed like the creek behind our house. When we knocked over her favorite pot of daisies on our rush after a runaway soccer ball, then Mom dashed, overtook us. Cars stopped, had to claw their way through a snagging siren. Maybe this moment was the moment, friends suggest years later, that I got my guardian angel. Maybe. The stream still

First Published in EQ Iris Dating Even if you didn't watch the Oscars (as I did not), Will Smith smacked Chris Rock and then swore at him at the top of his lungs. Millions of viewers watched live Rock's comment about Smith's wife's shaved head, intended as a joke. Speculation about his actions has been flying around the internet ever since. Speculations regarding Rocks' comment (and what constitutes "joking" and when "joking" is okay, whether he knew about Jada's condition

First featured in the Gyroscope Review Love In The Injustice Age (published in the Fall Issue of Shantih Journal [Oct. 6, 2018]) is when you know someone so well you could be her scream. Tia and I, we have caught a glimpse of our extinction; we are hunting it down. We build peace with justice, Tia and I. She cracks jokes like belts and I dig like an insult and the scant trees seize in the wind. We make this ditch with pick axes and fear and sick hope and just us. We are

First published by EQ Iris Dating You're likely familiar with the line in the '90s show Friends where Rachel is furious with Ross for "cheating" on her, and he defends himself by trying to explain that they weren't together at the time of his alleged betrayal. How does it happen that one person can feel cheated on, and the person who was accused of being unfaithful didn't even think they were together at the time? Enter: the murky waters of a "break." People seem to want i

First published by EQ Iris Dating I'm not sure how common it is for others, but I've experienced receiving the "encouragement" your disability doesn't define you" more frequently than is appropriate in the dating world. I've had friends and others who care about me remind me of this as if it's a pep talk before I put myself out there, and honestly, it's getting grating. In part, bringing up disability consistently in this way sort of undermines the very message they seem to

First Published on HealthyRich A week before I turned 30, I went to a new counselor. I’d been to therapy before — when I was in high school and for a brief time after undergrad. I wasn’t sure I’d truly resolved what was holding me back from the life I’d wanted, but I’d at least been able to identify it. And knowledge is half the battle, right? The problem is that more knowledge does not equate to more than half the battle. And, if the battle here is for the life I am excite

First Published in Moist Poetry Journal With the Wash on Our Hip We are bigger when we’re born, but the past is not a prologue. When we first get into the world, every last thing is otherworldly. Makes you wonder where we came from. But then, maybe before we get to the middle of our allotted time, with our hair in knots and the wash on our hip, and a permanent ache in our joints, this all becomes it all: it’s our kids turn to momentarily wild-eye the world. Makes us be

First Published in Moist Poetry Journal Healing is So Small The ocean is a seed on a low, coughing land and what does that mean what does that mean for us who are the salt of the earth? I know what it means for those who are the light – show the way, not yourself – but do those who are the salt preserve or dissolve?

First Published in EQ Iris Dating As a latecomer to dating, I wish someone had explicitly told me that people have different goals for their dating life. Of course, it's obvious to me now, but, like the kid who can't see the blackboard at school because she needs glasses but doesn't know that she can't see the blackboard at school (because she needs glasses), you don't know what you don't know! I entered the dating world assuming everyone had the same motives—to find a spou

First published by Punt Volat “Librarians and archivists—not to mention our beloved curators and art historians—help us grasp the organization and propagation of information; they are responsible for providing and maintaining the texts through which history will understand us, and in that sense they control the knowledge of the future.” Gulf Coast Editor’s Note, Summer 2016 1 My first feeling when I see her crumpled there is jealousy: the slog through this life is over for

First Published in Roi Fientantor Gaffes Will Be The Glory To err is human, to something is divine. I could Google it. But I have a problem with the whole setup. Pit human against divine, it’s obvious: humans lose every time. But where it goes from there—I’ve had enough. The planet would be better without us. Machines can do everything better than humans. Humans are only special in how much we suck. What happened? Why do so many of us hate us enough to believe the world wou

First published by EQ Iris Dating If you've spent time in the dating world, you've likely heard the advice to "just be happy being single." (Most of the time, it comes from married people, am I right?) The people who offer it are often well-meaning; they see you're single, assume you must be unhappy, and want to help you. In other words, they want to keep you from feeling complicated feelings, which they may or may not have verified with you that you are currently experienc